Jobs - - Drug delivery, controlled release and drug targeting

Ph. D. grant 2009-2012 in Computational Soft Matter/Materials Science/Chemical Physics

Date: deadline probably end of April! Location: Dept. of Chemical Engineering, ETSEQ, Universitat Rovira i Virgili

A fully-funded Ph. D. grant is available to do a Ph. D. in the field of Computational Soft Matter/Materials Science/Chemical Physics, starting fall(autumn) 2009 and for a total of 3 years. The working place
is The University of Tarragona, Spain.

Graduates in empirical sciences, maths, or engineering are welcome.
Physicists, Physical Chemists, Chemical Engineers, or Applied Mathematicians should be particularly suited
for the project, which just requires some basic knowledge of thermodynamics, and being not afraid of
programming a computer to perform numerical simulations. The latter is typically learnt by doing in the
first stages of a Ph.D, and in general anything can be learnt this way with the right attitude, which is part of the fun of doing research: always learning new things.

Candidates should preferrably hold a Master's degree, or have an official title enabling them to start a Ph.D. in their country of origin, with a minimum of 300 ECTS credits of higher education. If interested, do not refrain from contacting me just because of this.

The project consists in modelling the formation of the microstructure of a polymeric membrane,
when made by precipitating the polymer from a solution by means of a third chemical.
It is essentially a 3-component phase-separation problem. Such membranes are typically porous and
used as very fine filters, aimed at particles of different sizes. Therefore, one needs to control the
pore sizes (the microstructure) and hence the need for simulations. They can also be used to encapsulate
other chemicals... more in the direction of drug delivery. Experiments in both directions have and are
been done in house, and our goal is to compare with them. Alternative projects more in the direction of
biological membranes might also be possible, since both the supervisor and the host of this webpage have
some experience in that direction too. In any case, technically speaking the project will envolve solving
coupled reaction-diffusion partial differential equations, in principle by finite difference and simple numerical
methods.

Interested candidates please send an expression of interest and a CV to roger.folch@urv.cat
Please also indicate if you have an official master title.

The deadline for the application through the university will probably be end of April!

PhD | Views: 94 | Date: 26.02.2009 | Rating: 0.0/0 | Comments ()

Thèse en matière molle

Date: Location: France

Proposition de thèse en physique statistique des polymères et membranes

Modélisation des vecteurs de transport des médicaments

La délivrance de médicaments (drug delivery) est un domaine de recherche interdisciplinaire qui consiste à acheminer un principe actif de manière localisée. Généralement, les principes actifs sont pièges dans un polymère (vecteur) qui peut exister sous forme de micelles, gels, complexes anion-cation, etc. La question principale est de trouver la structure optimale de ces vecteurs pour des applications concrètes.

Dans ce contexte, les groupes joints "Systèmes Complexes" et "Polymères et Interfaces" à l’Université Rovira i Virgili Tarragona en Espagne, recrutent un candidat pour effectuer une thèse de 3 ans. Le candidat choisi intégrera la ligne de recherche de la modélisation théorique de systèmes de délivrance des médicaments. Il travaillera sur le développement de la Théorie de Champs Moyen d’une Chaîne Isolée dans le but d'identifier les mécanismes physiques de la cytotoxicité.

Les vecteurs de délivrance assemblés dans une forme active sont généralement plus toxiques que chacun de ces composants dissociés. Les raisons de cette augmentation significative de la toxicité cellulaire causée par l’assemblage moléculaire restent inconnues. Bien que l’augmentation de la toxicité soit quelquefois attribuée à la capacité des vecteurs macromoléculaires de dissoudre la membrane lipidique dans leurs coeurs, cette hypothèse reste spéculative.

Le candidat choisi utilisera la Théorie de Champs Moyen pour décrire les structures de complexes entre membranes et polymères afin de d'identifier les mécanismes de rupture des membranes. Le but de la thèse sera de déterminer les moyens de contrôler la cytotoxicité de vecteurs en jouant sur la structure des polymères. Les groupes "polymères et interfaces" possèdent une maitrise des outils de type de théorie de champs moyen, simulation numérique ainsi que des moyens informatiques (cluster) dont le candidat bénéficiera.

Le candidat idéal sera un étudiant de master en physique ayant une bonne connaissance de physique statistique et des méthodes numériques, et surtout motivé pour travailler dans le domaine de drug delivery et la biophysique.

Dr. Vladimir Baulin
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Tarragona (Spain)
and
ICREA (Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats)
Passeig Lluís Companys, 23
08010 Barcelona (Spain)

Tous les renseignements informels devraient être envoyé par e-mail

PhD | Views: 150 | Date: 05.11.2008 | Rating: 0.0/0 | Comments (0)

PhD in Soft matter physics is now available:

Date: Location:

PhD in statistical physics of polymers and membranes

Modelling of drug delivery vectors

Drug delivery is a domain of interdisciplinary research aimed in local delivery of active principle.

Joint groups “Complex Systems” and “Polymers and Interfaces” of the ETSEQ at the University Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona Spain, are seeking a candidate for a 3 year PhD program. The selected candidate will integrate the research line on theoretical modelling of Drug Delivery systems to work on the development of the Single Chain Mean Field theory to discover the physical mechanisms of the cytotoxicity.

Often the polymeric drug carriers in the assembled state are more toxic for cells than when in a dissociated state. The reasons of this significant increase of toxicity for the cell when assembled as well as the ways to reduce it are still unknown. Although the increased toxicity is sometimes attributed to the ability of the drug carriers to dissolve membrane lipids in the carrier cores, this remains as a speculative idea. During the contact with cell membranes the drug carriers may suck phospholipids and other constituents of cells into the cores, thus irreversibly damaging them. Hydrophobic polymers may precipitate onto and aggregate with the cell membrane forming pores that could be fatal for the cell.

The selected candidate will use the Self-Consistent Mean Field theory to describe the structures of membrane – polymer complexes in order to discover the mechanisms of the membrane disruption. The research will aim to find the way to control the cytotoxicity by adjusting the structure of the polymers used for concrete practical applications. The group has almost exclusive personal and computational fascilities: at present we have a cluster of 21 nodes with four AMD Opteron processors and 4Gb and 16Gb of RAM.

Within the framework of this PhD there is a possibility of a shared PhD with Professor Emmanuel Trizac, the Laboratoire de Physique Theorique et Modeles Statistiques, Universite de Paris-Sud, France.

We seek a candidate with Master degree in Statistical physics with good knowledge of Theoretical physics and numerical methods and motivated to work in the field of soft matter physics, statistical physics of polymers and biophysics.

Informal enquires (and applications) should be sent through this web site

Dr. Vladimir Baulin
Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Tarragona (Spain)
and
ICREA (Instituciу Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avanзats)
Passeig Lluнs Companys, 23
08010 Barcelona (Spain)

PhD | Views: 429 | Date: 05.11.2008 | Rating: 0.0/0 | Comments (0)